Fallon Cancer Cluster Probed

[Guest guest]

Fallon Cancer Cluster Probed

FALLON, Nevada, Jan. 9, 2002

(CBS) In one Nevada town, 15 children have all come down with the same

disease - childhood leukemia. This is an alarming statistic in a town so

small that more than one case every five years would be unusual.

Correspondent Carol Marin reports that both the families of the children and

the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are urgently trying to find out what's

causing it.

Just three days after Christmas, a 3-year-old boy became the latest cancer

victim. He lives in Fallon, a small town near Reno with a population of

about 9,000. He is the 15th child in Fallon to get that diagnosis in the

last four years, one reason why the CDC is doing something it quit doing 20

years ago - aggressively investigating a cancer cluster.

Adam Jernee was the first to die - this past June. He was just 10.

Jernee says his son seemed to have a chest cold that wouldn't go away. Adam

was taken to the hospital in Fallon where a CAT scan found a tumor in his

chest.

" Within two hours we were on an airplane for Sacramento to start

chemotherapy " his father recalls. " They put a tube into his chest to drain

excess fluid around his heart and they're trying to get an I.V. in his arm

and he's screaming for me. "

Jernee says Adam had been living in Fallon for a year when he was

diagnosed and he thinks the town killed his son. A second child has since

died.

Cancer Under The Microscope

For a look at common cancers, their treatments and their mortality rates,

click here.

Scientists have never been able to find an environmental cause to childhood

leukemia. In Fallon, there are a host of question marks, including high

levels of arsenic in the drinking water, pesticide spraying in the fields,

naturally occurring uranium in the ground and a history of nuclear tests

nearby in the 1960s. In addition, a pipeline runs through the center of

town, carrying millions of gallons of jet fuel to the Fallon Naval Air

Station and the Navy's Top Gun Flight School.

Gross was among the first to be diagnosed, a full year before Adam

Jernee. At first, and Reto Gross thought their son had the flu.

was also taken to the hospital in Fallon, where the doctor told them

just how grave their son's condition was.

" And I'm trying to ask the doctor, " says, " and the doctor's

explaining everything to me and saying, 'You know, this is a cancer. I've

already contacted U.C. . We're gonna get you flown over there. 's

got to be seen now.' "

In the spring of 2000, the number of seriously ill children in Fallon began

to explode. Statistically, an area the size of Fallon should expect one case

of childhood leukemia every five years. But in Fallon in just one half-year

period, there were seven cases.

Betsy Holcomb's daughter Kaylene, 18, was diagnosed in May. Matt Warneke's

daughter stacia was 5 when she was diagnosed.

" When my daughter was diagnosed, " Warneke says, " the first thing I thought

was, 'Not my daughter.' And the second thing I thought was, 'If this is

going on in Fallon, I want to leave. I don't want to be here.' "

Childhood leukemia is a cancer that damages the white blood cells and

weakens the immune system. In most cases, doctors can cure a child, but it

takes aggressive chemotherapy.

Despite years of research, scientists still have very little understanding

of what causes white blood cells in children to go bad. Genetics, they say,

play a part. Across decades, there have been dozens of studies looking for

an environmental cause, examining everything from radiation and chemical

exposure to second hand smoke and maternal alcohol use. Despite all the

studies, scientists have been unable to find a smoking gun.

" Everybody has their own opinions, " says Matt Warneke. " You can put whatever

you want on the top of the list. But until they study it and prove that

that's it, nobody knows for sure. "

This fall, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and other federal

agencies arrived in Fallon. For the first time in a cancer cluster

investigation, scientists are using new, specially designed equipment to

collect samples of dust, to test the air, to draw water from homes and to

test the soil, as well as to analyze blood and urine samples.

" Our new tools are capable of looking at a greater number of contaminants,

in this case, a greater number of volatile organic compounds, pesticides,

heavy metals and some radioactive materials, " says Dr. Sinks of the

CDC.

Part of the study is for parents of kids who don't have leukemia, but who

feel their children may be at risk.

" Part of the reason that we are looking at the environment so carefully is

to answer the questions for the entire community: Is my community safe? Is

the air I breathe safe? Is the water I drink safe? It'll be at a level that

has never been applied to a cancer cluster before, " Sinks says.

The question at the top of the list for many in Fallon is about the 34

million gallons a year of jet fuel used at the Navy's Top Gun flight school.

The fuel, called JP-8, is made up of over 200 chemicals including benzene, a

known carcinogen.

The base began using it in 1993. Four years later, the first case of

childhood leukemia was diagnosed. But even before families began to ask

questions about JP-8, Matt Warneke says, the Navy already had an answer.

" The base was denying it, before we even ever asked the question, " he says.

" They were denying everything before anybody ever brought up anything from

the base. "

Until recently Captain Roy was the commanding officer in Fallon.

" We are anxious to contribute to the investigation out here, " he says. " And,

to date - I mean for me, I'm not a scientist - but the people that have been

out here and looked at JP-8, looked at fuels, have not established a

scientific link between JP-8 and leukemia. "

But Mark Witten, whose own scientific work has been funded by the military,

is not so sure. He's a research professor at the University of Arizona and

has more than anyone else in the country studied the health effects of

exposure to JP-8. And this is one theory about what may be going on in

Fallon.

" You may be getting a little bit of jet fuel exposure, a little bit of

arsenic in the drinking water, as well as uranium exposure, " he says. " No

one at this point in time can rule out any possible toxic containment

causing childhood leukemia in Fallon. "

Witten is just one of a number of scientists the military has hired to

conduct health tests on JP-8. He says his work on laboratory mice shows JP-8

fumes can cause damage to their lungs and can weaken the immune system of

newborn mice.

As for humans, Witten says he's concerned about something the military has

already learned. Fuel handlers at six bases were measured for exposure to

JP-8. At the -Mothan Air National Guard in Tucson, Witten says, tests

found elevated levels of benzene.

" The benzene levels in the -Mothan workers was five times that of any

other air base, " he says. " And that was never adequately explained.

Benzene's highly carcinogenic, I mean incredibly carcinogenic. I'd sure like

to know why my benzene levels were five times higher in Tucson than they

were at other bases. "

Witten has also been conducting field tests, measuring the exhaust when a

jet engine is started.

" Every time they start a jet engine it is putting out uncombusted jet fuel, "

he says. " And then in an aerosol form. And so this then goes whichever way

the wind blows. "

Witten says his gut feeling is that it could go a long way.

But Capt. says the data is inconclusive. " We are still anxiously

awaiting the results of studies, " he says.

In Fallon, they are waiting for results, too and some frustration has set

in, especially with the CDC. Though it was first notified of a possible

cancer cluster back in July of 2000, the CDC took a year to start testing in

Fallon. That's because it stopped initiating cluster investigations 20 years

ago after conducting more than 100 such probes and never turning up a

concrete answer. Now, because of Fallon, the CDC is reassessing its policy.

" We are working currently to rethink how we respond to cancer clusters and

the type of approach we have, " Dr. Sinks says. " The types of infrastructure

we can help states build, and a step-by-step process by which cancer

clusters might be investigated. "

As for finding a cause of leukemia in Fallon, he says, " I think history

tells us it is unlikely, but that doesn't mean we're resigned that we won't

be able to find it. "

So why do people stay in Fallon?

" The reason I stay, " says Matt Warneke, " is because this family right here.

And that family right there and that family right there. That family down

there. And the rest of us up here. You can't ask for a better community. "

© MMII, CBS Worldwide Inc. .

also see:

CDC Investigates Cluster of Childhood Leukemia Cases

Questions Raised About Jet Fuel For Top Gun Flight School